Following a protest at Columbia University on Thursday, April 18m, at which over 100 protesters were arrested, amongst them a former intern in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office and the daughter of Representative and “Squad” member Ilhan Omar, Rep. Omar said she was “enormously proud” of her daughter.
The arrests apparently came because the protesters had set up an encampment on the campus, which Columbia characterized as violating its rules, and so when the protesters would not dismantle the encampment, the police were sent in to arrest them and dismantle the encampment and tents that made it up.
A university spokesperson, after the arrest and dismantling of the encampment, said that protests are expected to continue and, “We have rules regarding the time, place and manner that apply to protest activity and we will continue to enforce those.”
Rep. Omar, after the arrests, praised her daughter and tore into Columbia University. Posting on X (formerly Twitter), she wrote, “I am enormously proud of my daughter @israhirsi. She has always led with courage and compassion, from organizing a statewide school walk out on the 20th anniversary of Columbine at the age of 15, to leading the biggest youth climate rally at our nation’s Capitol at 16, and now pushing her school to stand against genocide.”
Continuing, she characterized the issue as being one of free speech and America’s support for Israel, the reason for the protest, as being something her daughter found intolerable, saying, “Stepping up to change what you can’t tolerate is why we as a country have the right to speech, assembly, and petition enshrined in our constitution.”
She also posted a video in which she pressed the Columbia University over, amongst other things, a supposed “chemical” attack on pro-Palestine protesters on the University campus. She said, “In January, there was an incident involving students that were protesting that were attacked with a toxic chemical substance, leaving many hospitalized. A lot of them did not receive support from the school administrators. Can you speak to what is happening with the investigation?”
Pushing back on that characterization of the incident, the president said, “This is still with the police. And, as far as we know, it was … an odorous substance. And we did reach out to all of those students who said they were affected. Many of them didn’t want support.”
Watch that video Rep. Omar posted here:
Rep. Omar’s daughter, for her part, posted about the protest on X, saying, “i’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege i have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings. i just received notice that i am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”
Continuing in a comment, she added, “Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated. We will stand resolute until our demands are met. our [sic] demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression.”
